Saturday, October 14, 2000

Xenogears | 10

I don't know how to say it, but some other reviewers have already said it. This game is DA BOMB!!! The story is the best!!! The characters are memorable!!! Want me to go on?!

Well anyhow, I can probably give you an idea on how the game starts.

Alright, the game starts with an anime CG movie(pretty dang good looking, but the dubbing is a little off, but still pretty good)showing people on a transport ship trying to cease the problem they're having, then after, we are shown a young man named Fei Fong Wong in a village, Lahan Village, painting a picture. He's having fun and decides to take a break. He goes out to hear news of his two friends, Alice and Timothy are getting married, and he decides to help out, but Alices little brother, Dan, doesn't like Timothy all that much and he doesn't want him to marry her. After going to see Alice, she asks Fei to go up to the village doctor on the mountain to get something. After this, Fei decides to stay for dinner because the doc's wifes cooking is the best. As he is going home, machines suddenly start flying into the village and chaos is breaking out. Citan helps out Fei by going to the village and helping out the injured. When they get there, they run into Timothy and Alice. They tell them to get out and to safety. They do that, but then, Timothy comes back for something and is in the line of fire of one of the machines. Will Timothy die from being in the line of fire in the middle of all the chaos? Find out by playing the most amazing RPG ever, Xenogears.

bI must get out to all you RPG gamers that this game may not be for newer players of its genre, but it's rather for more oldschool, devoted RPG players to whom graphics are not an issue. Yes, the graphics in Xenogears are lacking, but its deeply intricate and well written story is more than enough to compensate. I would have to say that the storyline for Xenogears has piqued my interest more than any other game I had ever played, RPG or otherwise, and I really commend the Xenogears team for its great work. Another reason this game may not be for all players is also because of its story. The story behind the game is a little sacreligious in many ways, as it tends to put a little backspin into your beliefs in "God" and the origin of the human race.

Aside from the storyline, the battle style is also very innovative, even if it is turn-based and based on the all-too-familiar level-up system. Its combo attack style is a nice change in the battle system that I've not seen in any other game, not even Xenosaga, the game's rumored prequal. The battle graphics seem lacking as well, and I believe that is because it's based off the larger scale of graphics used for the gears, hence, the granular appearance of the characters. However, this is an old game, and it isn't expected to have top-of-the-line graphics.

It's very serious and complicated with many adult themes (think Neon Genesis Eva), so many that it was almost never released into the United States. Nevertheless, the story is very awe-inspiring and very well thought out.